Book Review: Anna Karenina Part 1
“No, they needs must teach us how to live. They have no conception of what happiness is, and they do not know that without love there is no happiness or unhappiness for us, for us there would be no life”’
We’re doing this damn book in two parts because its such a long book and its taking me ages to read it. Also there’s a lot to cover. Funnily enough, Anna doesn’t appear much in it. Or at least in the first 500 pages. If that doesn’t tell you about the nature of Tolstoy I don’t know what does. There are so many characters and little dramas - Oooofff, its exhausting! But lets direct the first 500 pages and see what we can learn!
Okay so, there’s the Oblonsky family and the patriarch is a bit of a philanderer and his wife, Dolly, is not happy. Naturally. She is considering leaving him (in my opinion she should) but this is 19th century Russia and things are a little different. Sure, divorce is a thing, but its not socially accepted to be a divorcee. In fact, it ruins you in the eyes of the elite society that this family belongs to. Now, Oblonsky writes to his sister, the eponymous Anna Karenina (this is about 100 pages in by the way) to come and reason with Dolly and to help them reconcile. Now, here’s the thing. We’re at the train station. Its cold. The steam from the train is drifting lazily down the platform. Icicles are glistening and Anna meets Vronsky. But here is the snag. Anna is married. Here we go chaps, hold onto your knickers - let the drama begin!
But here’s the thing, just when it starts to get interesting we go a head and look at Konstantin Levin. He’s not a bad guy - socially awkward yes, but not a bad guy. He is in love with Kitty. Kitty is Dolly’s little sister and Kitty is in love with Vronsky. But obviously Vronksy is in love with Anna. I mean talk about a mess. More awkwardly Levin proposes to Kitty and he is refused. Ouch. I mean, can you really blame Kitty? She was somewhat whisked away by Vronsky who is handsome and wealthy and always asks her to dance at every ball and always calls on her at every opportunity. It also doesn’t help that her mother put ideas in her head about marriage and about how great Vronsky is and what a perfect match it would be for Kitty and the family. However, Vronsky is a cad. Basically Vronsky is the AH in this situation, because he enjoys flirting with women without the intention of marriage, he enjoys playing with the idea of love. So poor Kitty and poor Levin. Kitty falls ill and Levin returns, heart broken, to the country and to farming. Whilst I’m on the subject of farming and the Russian countryside, I have to say that this is one of the books biggest flaws. I don’t want to read all that there is to know about damned Russian farming methods of the 19th century thank you very much. Sure, it adds colour and texture and an awful lot of background information about Levin and his business. But it is not necessary. This book isn’t called ‘Romanticism of Russian Farming Methods’ its called Anna Karenina. So please I’d like some more writing about her and her love affair with Vronsky if you please.
But, let’s talk about Vronsky, we have a few interesting points to discuss. And that is the stark contrast between the company that he keeps versus the company that Anna keeps. After their enchanting meeting where they fell in love, they both return to their respective sets. Anna looks at her friends in a new light, she sees how bland and boring they are. They lack colour, light and vivacity. She realises just how dull and dreary her domestic life is. Her love for Vronsky had ignited a fire inside her. Vronsky, on the other hand, fell into an old routine of friendship and raucous behaviour. His friends are not of the polished high society that Anna. belonged to, but one that was frivolous and enjoyed games of gambling and love. He is not as changed as Anna is.
Yet, here is where I’ll leave you, Anna has just told her husband about the affair with Vronsky. Karenin, her husband, wishes her to return to him and the family for the sake of propriety, society and - most importantly, their son. The stakes are set, but are made higher when Vronsky demands that Anna leave her husband and come away with him. Especially now, especially that Anna is pregnant with his child.